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Unknown Identity
Chapter Three: A Defeat
"No!" Yami Bakura yelled. He had nearly had his other beaten, his will broken – and then that cursed Yami Yugi's favorite card had interfered. The Dark Magician had decimated his forces.
"Dark Magic attack!" Bakura's quietly accented voice ordered. Here in the normal world and without dueling discs there was no point in ordering the cards to do anything, but it was a habit long ingrained in both duelists. Yami Bakura did the mental math rapidly. A vision of red LED numbers dwindling rapidly to zero passed through his mind, but he forced it aside.
"That was your last monster," Bakura said. "And the last of your life points. You've lost." Yami Bakura glared at his other, but even in his rage he was a man of his word. He stood, the fires in his eyes blazing, and removed the millennium puzzle from his neck. He pulled the soul cards from his pocket.
"Give me the puzzle and the cards," Bakura said quietly. "That was our agreement." Yami Bakura's eyes flashed. He was a man of his words, all right…
"Sure, Ryou," he said with feigned cheerfulness. "I'll give them to you…fetch!" He threw the puzzle and the cards into the air. Bakura's eyes went wide as he saw his efforts vanish as if in a puff of smoke. He ran to the edge of the precipice and caught one of the cards as it fluttered down, but the puzzle was too far out. He could do nothing but watch it disappear into the murky gloom.
"Yami!" he yelled in rage as he spun. Yami Bakura was disappearing into the gloom as well. Bakura suddenly felt the millennium ring around his neck glow, and it seemed as though a new life was inside him. Yami Bakura yelled as the dark clouds of the Shadow Realm closed in around him, trapping him. The ring's glow faded, and Bakura fell to his knees. Never before had he been able to control the ring…
The other three soul cards settled in the mud around him, a silent reminder that he was not yet finished. Standing, he dried off all four cards and fanned them out in his hand. Pausing for a moment, he removed Yugi's soul card and slipped it into his pocket, then returned his gaze to the remaining soul cards. The ring glowed again, though not as brightly. A white mist began to form around each card. The mist became a dense fog completely surrounding him, and he forced down the lump of fear rising in his throat. Finally the fog condensed into three separate figures. They floated through the air and molded to the three figures lying prone on the ground.
"What – what happened?" Jounouchi coughed, sitting up. Anzu rubbed her forehead as she rose to her feet. Honda stared around blankly for a moment before his eyes settled on Ryou.
"Bakura!" he exclaimed. "What happened? Where are we?"
"We're on the top of some mountain," Ryou replied. "My yami brought us all here, though he left me unconscious some distance away. He trapped all of your souls in soul cards in order to keep you out of the way while he destroyed Yami."
"Where's Yugi?" Anzu asked, her voice filled with concern. "Shouldn't he be here, too?" Bakura bowed his head and took a deep breath.
"I'm afraid…I'm afraid Yugi is dead." His friends looked at him in silent shock. "My yami was strong, and he had been whittling down Yami's strength for some time," Ryou explained. "By the time I came to and found my way here, he had managed to make Yami turn over the millennium puzzle." There was a collective gasp of surprise. "I didn't hear exactly what he said, but I believe it had something to do with pushing Yugi over the cliff if Yami didn't admit defeat. At any rate, Yami surrendered, and my yami was about to destroy him for good when I finally arrived.
"I challenged my yami to a duel the instant I got here. I wasn't sure I could win, but if nothing else it would give Yami a chance to recover his strength and try to get the millennium puzzle back. But – " Ryou's voice cracked, and he had to take a steadying breath before continuing. "But while we were discussing conditions, my yami shoved Yugi over the cliff. Yami followed him."
"No…" Anzu's eyes moistened and a tear rolled down her cheek. "No…"
"But his soul – what happened to his soul?" Jounouchi demanded. He seemed to be taking the news harder than the others, but Bakura knew that he had a clear head when it came right down to it.
"It is still trapped in this soul card," Bakura replied, pulling the card from his pocket. "I wasn't sure if I should release it yet, just in case Yugi's body…" He trailed off.
"In case he's dead," Honda said flatly. Bakura nodded.
"I've made so many wrong decisions today… I didn't want to do it again," he said softly. Then he fell to his knees again and his shoulders shook with quiet sobs. It's my fault that both Yugi and Yami are gone… If I hadn't interfered, they would have both survived! I'm such an idiot!
Anzu put her arms around him, and his sobs finally subsided. "Come on, Bakura," she said gently. "This isn't over yet. What happened to the millennium puzzle?"
"My yami threw it over the cliff as well," Bakura said, raising his eyes slowly. Anzu hugged him tighter and tried not to let him see the tears streaming down her face.
"Then we need to go look for it," Honda said. He stood and pulled Jounouchi to his feet as well. "Come on, Anzu, Bakura, let's go find us a puzzle."
"Hey, guys!" Jounouchi yelled an hour and a half later. "I think I found part of it!" He held up a small oddly shaped piece of gold and showed it to his friends. "The rest of it's got to be around here somewhere!" They decided to split up into two groups to look. Thirty minutes of frantic searching later, there was still no sign of Yugi or his puzzle. Anzu stared mournfully at the swiftly flowing river that ran only feet away from where Jounouchi had found the puzzle piece.
"Don't even think it, Anzu," Honda said sternly. "He's not drowned, he just can't be."
"But there's no other explanation, Honda!" Anzu said desperately. "He can't just have disappeared, either! It's not possible!"
"She's right," Bakura said. "With hair like his, we should be able to see him even in this darkness and rain. He's not here. There's no point in looking any more."
"Then…" Jounouchi bit his lip.
"Then what?" Honda asked. "What is it, Jounouchi?"
"What should we do about his soul?" They stared blankly at each other, at a loss for words. "I mean, would it be better to leave him trapped forever inside a card or to let him return to his body, even if it's dead?"
"There's no good answer," Bakura said after a long silence. "Either way it would be torture for him."
"And either way he's dead to us." Anzu said.
"I say we let his soul go to his body," Bakura said flatly. "I know what it's like to be trapped, and it would be a relief to die."
Honda nodded his agreement. "It's hard, but I agree."
"I think so too," Anzu said. "It's better than spending an eternity stuck in a card. What about you, Jounouchi?" Jounouchi hesitated before answering.
"I lose my best buddy either way," he finally said. "I'll go with whatever you decide."
"Then it's unanimous," Bakura said. "We release his soul." He pulled the card from his pocket again. Anzu's eyes went wide as she saw the millennium ring begin to glow through Bakura's thin waterlogged shirt and backed away in fear as the white mist appeared. Instead of becoming a dense fog, though, the mist just expanded until it blanketed the entire area. It dissipated slowly, and Yugi's innocent face faded from the card. The ring grew dim.
"Bakura!" Honda exclaimed as his friend collapsed. "Bakura, what's wrong?"
"I cannot…control the ring anymore," he gasped. "It's too powerful. I can't use its power again…" Honda nodded and helped him up.
"It's all right, Bakura," he said. "With Yami Yugi and your yami both gone, I don't think we'll have to worry about the millennium items anymore anyway. You don't have to use it again."
"I certainly hope not," Bakura said softly. There was a long silence, and the rain from the sky wasn't the only liquid running down any of their faces.
"I just can't believe he's gone…"
A/N: ^watching Match of the Millennium, Part 2^ I'm sorry, but that Toon Summoned Skull is just scary… ^shudders^ You know the drill – please drop a review, flames will be used to burn all Toon Summoned Skull cards…